Machine for sealed cover for a set of documents

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a machine for providing a sealed cover for documents comprising a document conveying table ( 18 ) with a general longitudinal shape, arranged upstream of a unit for inserting ( 20 ) said documents in an envelope ( 26 ), at least a contact member ( 40, 42 ) mobile longitudinally, under the action of driving means ( 76, 82, 84, 88 ) in the direction of the inserting unit and which is designed to drive the documents on the conveying table, the driving means being distant from the inserting unit. The invention is characterized in that said at least one contact member is arranged on a mobile support ( 44 ) linked to the driving means in a zone ( 44   b ) located upstream of said at least one contact member, the driving means imposing on said at least one contact member is reciprocating translational movement between two extreme positions, in one of said extreme positions said at least one contact member being placed proximate to the inserting unit.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to a machine for inserting documents into anenvelope, the machine including a generally elongate document routingtable on the upstream side of an insertion unit for inserting saiddocuments into an envelope, and at least one contact member that can bemoved longitudinally by drive means remote from the insertion unittoward the insertion unit and is adapted to push the documents on therouting table.

In prior art machines of the above type for inserting documents intoenvelopes an envelope held open by a plurality of suckers disposed aboveit is disposed on the insertion unit, aligned with the routing table, inorder to receive documents coming from the table.

The side of the envelope with the flap is placed on a table forming partof the insertion unit, with the flap directed downward and disposedunder the routing table, and the other side of the envelope, with noflap, is placed above the first face and clings to the suckers so thatthe envelope can be opened.

SUMMARY

The Applicant has addressed the problem of inserting documents into anenvelope and has found that, in some cases, the routing table canreceive a stack of documents which, in the case of A4 sheets of paper,can be up to 8 mm thick.

The Applicant has also addressed the problem of inserting into anenvelope documents having different formats.

With documents having different formats, the contact member(s) connectedto the drive means must be able to push the documents to the far end ofthe envelope, and because of the relatively large volume and/or thevaried formats of the documents, the flap of the envelope must be heldas close as possible to the plane containing the side of the envelope towhich the flap is attached.

To do this, the drive means are spaced from the insertion unit in orderto form between them a space adapted to receive a solenoid, for example,whose function is to hold the flap as much as possible against the lowerportion of the routing table.

The Applicant has developed an envelope filling machine of relativelysimple design that allows for at least some of the constraints imposedby inserting into an envelope a relatively thick set of documents,possibly with varied formats.

The present invention therefore provides a machine for insertingdocuments into an envelope, the machine including a generally elongatedocument routing table on the upstream side of an insertion unit forinserting said documents into an envelope, and at least one contactmember that can be moved longitudinally by drive means remote from theinsertion unit toward the insertion unit and is adapted to push thedocuments on the routing table, which machine is characterized in thatsaid at least one contact member is on a mobile support connected to thedrive means in an area upstream of said at least one contact member andthe drive means imposing on said at least one contact member and on thesupport a reciprocating movement in translation between two extremepositions in one of which said at least one contact member is in thevicinity of the insertion unit.

Thus the contact member(s) on a mobile support connected to the drivemeans are offset from those means and therefore have sufficientextension in the longitudinal direction to be placed in the vicinity ofthe insertion unit and thus to be able to push the documents on therouting table to the far end of the envelope.

Also, because the combination of the contact member(s) and the supportreciprocates in longitudinal translation, it can be moved back to aso-called initial position once the documents are inserted into theenvelope, without damaging the envelope, unlike a solution with one ormore stops on a longitudinal belt running around two shafts parallel tothe routing table and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction inwhich the documents are fed.

In that kind of solution, the stop(s) would have to be sufficiently highto be able to push the documents to the far end of the envelope andwould tear the envelope on beginning their downward movement to completetheir travel by returning to the initial position.

To provide an envelope filling machine capable of pushing a relativelythick and therefore heavy set of documents and of resisting the forcesthat are generated in the event of a document jam on the routing tablewithout damaging the machine, the drive means advantageously include anendless loop longitudinal transport member rotatably mounted around twoparallel shafts perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tableand contained in a plane P under and parallel to the routing table andthe support is connected to said drive means by a mechanism whichreduces the mechanical forces exerted on the transport member bydistributing those forces, in particular in the mechanism itself.

Thus the longitudinal transport member (for example a belt) cannot bedamaged by shear forces, as would be the case if there were high stopson the belt.

When a thick set of documents is to be pushed, or if a document jamoccurs on the routing table, the maximum forces are transmitted to thebase of the stop(s), where they are mounted on the belt.

These forces cause shearing at this point and this would requirerelatively major maintenance operations, since it would be necessary toremove and replace the entire belt.

Note that the machine according to the invention is particularlyadvantageous in that documents are pushed at a constant speed.

This is very important because, if documents are stacked and the speedof the contact member(s) is not constant, the documents tend to sliderelative to each other and this impedes their insertion into theenvelope, with the possible risk of causing a document jam on therouting table.

According to one feature, the connecting mechanism converts rotation ofthe longitudinal transport member into longitudinal reciprocation intranslation. This caters for prior art envelope filling machines, whichfrequently include a longitudinal transport member that rotates abouttwo axes.

According to another feature, the connecting mechanism includes at leastone pusher member perpendicular to the longitudinal direction ofmovement of the support for pushing the support and link meansarticulated about two link shafts that are parallel to the shafts of thetransport member and one of which is fastened to the pusher member anddisposed in the plane P and the other of which is fastened to thetransport member.

According to one feature, the connecting mechanism includes means forholding the pusher member in a position perpendicular to thelongitudinal direction of movement of the support.

This achieves better distribution of the forces exerted on the mechanismand prevents those forces being concentrated at the link shaftconnecting the pusher member to the link means.

To be more specific, the holding means include two bearings mounted onthe pusher member, offset relative to each other in the longitudinaldirection and respectively cooperating with two parallel longitudinalgrooves disposed one above the other. This advantageous arrangementguides the pusher member and keeps it vertical.

According to one feature, the pusher member has a reduced section areain an upper portion in which the maximum forces are exerted.

The pusher member is intentionally weakened, constituting a kind of“mechanical fuse” that can be broken by an excessive force.

Accordingly, in the event of a break in this area, maintenance personnelneed only change the pusher member, instead of having to remove andreplace the longitudinal transport member, as in the solution referredto above.

Alternatively, the portion of the mechanism forming a mechanical fusecan be the link means, which are intentionally weakened.

According to another feature, the machine includes guide means forguiding longitudinal movement in translation of the support, whichfacilitates that movement.

To be more specific, the guide means include bearings cooperating withlongitudinal members, for example angle-irons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages will become apparent in the course of thefollowing description, which is given by way of nonlimiting example andrefers to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view in longitudinal section of a machine inaccordance with the invention for filling envelopes;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the portion of the envelopefilling machine shown in FIG. 1 containing contact members and a supportin the form of a carriage;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view in cross section of the machine shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial diagrammatic view to a larger scale and inlongitudinal section of the portion of the machine shown in FIG. 1containing contact members and a support in the form of a carriage; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are views of the machine shown in FIG. 1 with the supportcarriage and the contact members in different positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a partial diagrammatic view of a document processing machine,for example a machine for inserting documents into envelopes.

This kind of machine includes document dispensers, not shown, whichdispense documents on a document feeder table 12.

The documents on the feeder table pass between two pairs of rollers 14and 16 before they are deposited on a routing table 18.

The table 18 is of generally elongate shape in the direction in whichdocuments on the table are routed, and extends from an end under thedocument feeder table 12 to an insertion unit 20 facing the opposite endof the table 18.

Broadly speaking, the insertion unit 20 takes the form of a table 22 onlegs 24 a and 24 b.

As shown in FIG. 1, an envelope 26 coming from an envelope dispensingstation known in the art, and not shown in the figures, is placed on thetable 22 so that the side of the envelope 26 a carrying the flap 26 b isin contact with the table and the other side 26 c with no flap is ontop.

A sucker is provided at the end of each tube of a set of tubes, only onetube 28 and one sucker 30 being shown in the figure. The set of tubes isdisposed above the routing table 18 and the table 22 so that the suckerscan come into contact with the side 26 c of the envelope and lift it,holding the envelope open and ready to receive documents. The upward anddownward movements of the tubes are controlled in a manner that is knownin the art by a solenoid 31.

As is also known in the art, another solenoid 32 is located under therouting table 18 in line with the area which contains the flap 26 b ofthe envelope and is placed under this table.

When the solenoid is activated (FIGS. 1 and 5) its plunger presses theflap 26 b of the envelope against the lower portion of the table 18 sothat the flap is aligned with the side 26 a of the envelope as much aspossible.

This shapes the envelope so that its opening is as wide as possible andit can therefore receive as many documents as possible.

The documents 34 shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 consist of A4 and A5sheets and sheets one third of the A4 size, for example, and form on therouting table 18 a stack of documents up to 8 mm thick.

The mobile end of a solenoid 36 is provided with one or more stops 38which serve as an abutment for stopping the documents 34 before theyreach the insertion unit 20, if necessary.

In FIG. 1, the solenoid is activated and the stop 38 is positionedagainst the table 18.

When the solenoid is deactivated, the stop 38 is raised to allow thedocuments to pass, as shown in FIG. 5.

The envelope filling machine according to the invention includes atleast one contact member adapted to push the documents 34 on the routingtable 18 toward the envelope 26 on the table 22 of the insertion unit20.

To be more specific, and as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, two contact membersin the form of contact fingers 40 and 42 (FIG. 2) are fitted intonotches at an end 44 a of a support 44 in the form of a carriage.

This support takes the form of a plate over the routing table 18.

The support carriage is connected to drive means under the routing table18, upstream of the solenoid 32, and therefore remote from the insertionunit 20.

As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2, the drive means, which aredescribed later, move the support carriage equipped with the contactmembers 40 and 42 with a reciprocating movement in translation in thelongitudinal direction of the routing table 18, between two extremepositions, one of which is a rest position shown in FIG. 1 and the otherof which is shown in FIG. 6 and is described later.

In this latter extreme position, the contact members 40 and 42 are inthe vicinity of the insertion unit 20.

The support carriage 44 and the contact members 40 and 42 are above therouting table 18 and during the reciprocating movement in translation ofthe combination of the support and the contact members, the contactmembers slide in two parallel longitudinal slots 46 and 48 in the table18. The slots are shown partly and diagrammatically in FIG. 2.

A document routing table with slots like these is known in the art.

Note that, to prevent mechanical friction, the support 44 is not incontact with the table 18.

The envelope filling machine further includes means for guidinglongitudinal movement in translation of the support carriage which alsoraise the support relative to the routing table 18.

The guide means include two parallel support members 50 and 52 under thesupport carriage and perpendicular to the surface thereof.

The support members 50 and 52 are symmetrical with respect to the medianlongitudinal axis XX′ of the support 44 and the routing table 18.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the support members 50 and 52 slide inlongitudinal slots 53 and 55 in the routing table 18 parallel to thelongitudinal slots 46 and 48 shown in FIG. 2.

Each support member includes two parallel shafts parallel to the supportcarriage and facing outward.

The shafts 54 and 56 (respectively 58 and 60) of the support member 50(respectively 52) are provided at their free ends with respectivebearings 62 and 64 (respectively 66 and 68).

As shown in FIG. 3, parallel longitudinal guide members 70 and 72 in theform of angle-irons are provided under the routing table 18.

The angle-irons have a generally elongate shape and an L-shaped crosssection.

The two angle-irons face each other so that the inside of the L-shape ofone angle-iron faces the inside of the L-shape of the other angle-ironand the angle-irons can cooperate with the respective bearings 62, 64,66 and 68 of the respective support members 50 and 52.

Locating the guide means as close as possible to the lateral edges 44 cand 44 d of the support carriage improves the guidance of the carriagewhen it moves in longitudinal translation on the table 18 and preventstransverse movements of the support.

Transverse movements could occur if the support carriage guide meanswere near the plane P 1 (FIG. 3).

It should be noted that if high forces are generated, for example ifthere is a document jam on the routing table 18, the guide meanspreviously mentioned absorb some of the forces transmitted to thestructure.

The mobile support carriage 44 is connected to the drive means by aconnecting mechanism 74 in an area upstream of the contact members 40and 42, to be more precise in the vicinity of the end 44 b of thesupport.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the drive means include an endless looplongitudinal transport member 76 running around two parallel shafts 78and 80 lying a plane P parallel to and under the routing table 18.

The shafts 78 and 80 are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction XX′of the routing table.

The longitudinal transport member takes the form of a notched belt, forexample, cooperating with pulleys 82 and 84 rotating about respectiveshafts 78 and 80.

Note that the notched belt and pulleys can be replaced by a chain andsprocket system.

As shown in FIG. 3, rotation of the pulley 82 is driven by a shaft 83and a belt 86 connected to a clutch 87 which is in turn connected to amotor 88 by a belt 89.

Two blocks 90 and 92 support the shaft 83 of the pulley 82 and the shaftof the pulley 84, which is not shown in the figures.

The shaft 83 of the pulley 82 passes through the blocks 90 and 92, whichare provided with respective bearings 94 and 96. The blocks 90 and 92lie one on each side of a pulley 98 on which the belt 86 is mounted; thebelt is also mounted on another pulley 100 on an output shaft 102 of theclutch 87.

The pulley 84 is an idler pulley and is not described further.

The connecting mechanism 74 converts rotation of the belt 76 into areciprocating movement in longitudinal translation. The mechanism issupported by a frame 104 on a plinth 106 on which the blocks 90 and 92are also disposed.

The mechanism 74 providing the mechanical connection between the drivemeans 76, 82, 84 and 88 and the support carriage 44 includes at leastone support pusher member 110 perpendicular to the longitudinaldirection of movement of said support.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, there is only one support pushermember.

It takes the form of a plate of generally elongate shape in a directionin a plane P 1 (FIG. 3) containing the median longitudinal axis XX′ andconstituting a plane of symmetry for the combination of the support 44and the contact members 40 and 42.

In the FIG. 4 side view, the pusher member has a general shape similarto that of a bottle, comprising a body 110 a at the upper end of whichis a reduced section area constituting a neck 110 b that is fastened tothe support 44.

The portion 110 b forming the neck of the pusher member slides in agroove 112 in the routing table 18 (FIG. 2) when the support 44 moves.

Thus the reduced section area 110 b is mechanically weakened andconstitutes a kind of mechanical fuse that breaks if maximum mechanicalforces are exerted in this area.

Accordingly, maintenance personnel need only remove and replace thepusher member, instead of removing and replacing the whole of the belt76.

A support 114 mounted on the frame 104 helps to guide the movement ofthe pusher member 110 in longitudinal translation.

The longitudinal support 114 incorporates two parallel longitudinalhousings located one above the other and each having an opening facingtoward the pusher member 110.

The open housings 116 and 118 constitute grooves adapted to receiverespective bearings 120, 122 mounted on respective hubs 125, 127fastened to the pusher member 110.

As shown in FIG. 4, the bearings 120 and 122 are offset relative to eachother in the longitudinal direction XX′ to distribute the forcestransmitted to the pusher member 110 and thereby to compensate a torsionforce that would be exerted on that member if the bearings were disposedon the same vertical line.

Note that additional bearings could be added alongside at least one ofthe bearings 120, 122, preferably alongside the bearing 120, to improvethe resistance of the pusher member to a torsion force.

The bearings mounted on the pusher member and respectively cooperatingwith the grooves 116 and 118 constitute means for holding the pushermember in a position perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of thesupport carriage 44.

The mechanism 74 also includes link means 124 articulated about two linkshafts parallel to the shafts 78 and 80.

One shaft 126 connects the pusher member 110 to the link means 124 andremains at all times in the plane P containing the shafts 78 and 80.

The other shaft 128 is fastened to the belt 76.

In a different embodiment, the link means can be weakened instead of aportion of the pusher member 110, and constitute a mechanical fuse forthe connecting mechanism 74 as a whole.

The presence of the connecting mechanism 74 reduces the mechanicalforces exerted on the transport member consisting of the belt bydistributing those forces, in particular in the mechanism itself.

The forces appear if the support carriage 44 with the contact members 40and 42 has to move heavy documents and also in the event of a documentjam on the routing table 18.

Because of the structure of the mechanism 74 shown in the figures, theforces that would otherwise be exerted on the belt in the absence of themechanism, and which would therefore deform it, or even damage it, aredistributed between the shafts 126 and 128, the link means 124 and theguide means for the pusher member 110.

It should be noted that in the absence of the bearings 120 and 122 thathelp to guide the pusher member, the mechanical forces exerted on thatmember would be exerted only on the link shaft 126.

Because, in the connecting mechanism 74, the link means are neverperpendicular to the routing table 18 and the forces exerted by the belt76 on the link means are only thrust or traction forces, the forces towhich said belt is subjected are greatly reduced.

Because the weakened area 110 b of the pusher member 110 is lower than astop formed directly on the belt 76 would be, the torque transmitted tothe pusher member is reduced compared to a solution with stops mounteddirectly on the belt.

Furthermore, in the event of a document jam, the pusher member 110 can,in some situations, be raised slightly and thereby transmit to the guidemeans of the support carriage some of the forces transmitted to it.

The guide means therefore also contribute to the distribution ofmechanical forces as taught by the invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the support carriage 44 with the contactmembers 40 and 42 moves from a rest extreme position shown in FIG. 1 toan intermediate position shown in FIG. 5 in which said contact memberscome into contact with the documents 34 and push them in the downstreamdirection toward the insertion unit 20.

FIG. 6 shows the support carriage 44 with the contact members 40 and 42in another extreme position, in which they are virtually in contact withthe table 22 of the insertion unit 20 and the contact members push thedocuments 34 all the way into the envelope 26.

Note that the system according to the invention consisting of contactmembers mounted on the support 44 and the connecting mechanism 74 withthe drive means imparts to the contact members sufficient extent forthem to reach the opening of the envelope 26, although the drive meansare remote from the insertion unit and converts the rotation of thedrive means 76, 82, 84, 88 into front to back reciprocation intranslation between the extreme positions previously cited, to returnthe combination of the contact members and the support to the initialposition shown in FIG. 1 without damaging the envelope.

Without the mechanism 74 that converts the rotation of the drive means76 into longitudinal front to back movement, the rotation of the contactmembers would tear the envelope.

1. A machine for inserting documents into an envelope, the machineincluding a generally elongate document routing table on the upstreamside of an insertion unit for inserting said documents into an envelope,and at least one contact member that is adapted to be movedlongitudinally by drive means remote from the insertion unit toward theinsertion unit and is adapted to push the documents on the routingtable, wherein said at least one contact member is on a mobile supportconnected to the drive means in an area upstream of said at least onecontact member and the drive means imposing on said at least one contactmember and on the mobile support a reciprocating movement in translationbetween two positions in one of which said at least one contact memberis in the vicinity of the insertion unit, wherein the drive meansinclude an endless loop longitudinal transport member rotatably mountedaround two parallel shafts perpendicular to the longitudinal directionof the table and contained in a plane under and parallel to the routingtable and the support is connected to said drive means by a connectingmechanism means for reducing the mechanical forces exerted on thetransport member by distributing those forces in the mechanism, whereinthe connecting mechanism means includes at least one pusher memberperpendicular to the longitudinal direction of movement of the supportfor pushing the support and link means articulated about two link shaftsthat are parallel to the shafts of the transport member and one of whichis fastened to the pusher member and disposed in the plane and the otherof which is fastened to the transport member, wherein the connectingmechanism means includes means for holding the pusher member in aposition perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of movement of thesupport, wherein the holding means include two bearings mounted on thepusher member, offset relative to each other in the longitudinaldirection and respectively cooperating with two parallel longitudinalgrooves disposed one above the other.
 2. The machine according to claim1, wherein the connecting mechanism means converts rotation of thelongitudinal transport member into longitudinal reciprocation intranslation.
 3. The machine according to claim 1, wherein the pushermember has a reduced section area in an upper portion in which themaximum forces are exerted.
 4. The machine according to claim 1, whereinthe link means comprise a mechanical fuse.
 5. The machine according toclaim 1, further comprising guide means for guiding longitudinalmovement in translation of the support.
 6. The machine according toclaim 5, wherein the guide means include bearings cooperating withlongitudinal guide members.
 7. The machine according to claim 6, whereinthe longitudinal guide members are angle-irons.
 8. A machine forinserting documents into an envelope, the machine including a generallyelongate document routing table on the upstream side of an insertionunit for inserting said documents into an envelope, and at least onecontact member that longitudinally by a drive mechanism remote from theinsertion unit toward the insertion unit and is adapted to push thedocuments on the routing table, wherein the at least one contact memberis on a mobile support connected to the drive mechanism in an areaupstream of said at least one contact member and the drive mechanismimposing on said at least one contact member and on the mobile support areciprocating movement in translation between two end positions of thereciprocating movement in one of which said at least one contact memberis in the vicinity of the insertion unit, wherein, the drive mechanismincludes an endless loop longitudinal transport member rotatably mountedaround two parallel shafts perpendicular to the longitudinal directionof the table and contained in a plane under and parallel to the routingtable; and the support is connected to said drive mechanism by aconnecting mechanism, wherein, the connecting mechanism includes atleast one pusher member perpendicular to the longitudinal direction ofmovement of the support for pushing the support; and the connectingmechanism includes at least one link articulated about two link shaftsthat are parallel to the shafts of the transport member and one of whichis fastened to the pusher member and disposed in the plane and the otherof which is fastened to the transport member, wherein, the connectingmechanism includes a holder for holding the pusher member in a positionperpendicular to the longitudinal direction of movement of the support,and wherein, the holder includes two bearings mounted on the pushermember, offset relative to each other in the longitudinal direction andrespectively cooperating with two parallel longitudinal grooves disposedone above the other.